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The Plan

What am I going to do with this?
I am going to share thoughts on why people should work hard if only God matters. This is often referred to as the paradox of Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility.

Who is going to read this?
People who stumble across my blog via Google, Facebook friends and Twitter followers who think my post titles are intriguing. I hope my family does at least :-).

What kinds of information will I be posting?
I plan on posting links to timely materials, pretty pictures with thoughtful commentary and stories from everyday life that highlight the tension of responsibility and grace (hence the title merit and grace). Based on my experience with myself, I expect a lot of long-winded theological reflection. I hope to get better at writing for an audience, namely you dear reader :-).

Why am I doing this?
I’ve been frustrated with mediocrity in the church for sometime and I think when I first encountered the marvelous sovereignty of God in the Bible and explained in Desiring God I felt an abiding tension between my effort and God’s work. I filled pages and pages of journals with thoughts on all the various possibilities and implications and now I’d like to share those thoughts more widely in the hopes that they might benefit someone.

Who am I doing this for?
Yes, I hope I am doing this for God (and not my own vanity, which often produces wild imaginations of fame and fortune from being discovered and admired for uncommon insight and profund articulations). I think there are four categories of people I’m writing to/for.The first is myself: I want to be a better writer and I want to express these ideas which have been so moving and helpful for me (since they aren’t as helpful if they just stay in my head or my handwritten journal).

The second is Christians who have trouble coming to grips with God’s sovereignty (as we all do, since it’s incredibly devastating to realize how insignificant we are) and who perhaps have endured far more guilt from taking responsibility for things that God alone can do (like saving friends they love).

The third is Christians who feel demotivated because they have come to grips with God’s sovereignty and feel like nothing they do matters and that they might as well sit around all day praying for things to happen rather than taking responsible action since it all doesn’t matter anyway–God will do what he will and we can’t do much about it.

The fourth and final category is non-Christians of all kinds and all backgrounds who I hope will benefit from my honest wrestlings with Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility. Some may be pragmatic thinking that faith in Jesus is good if it helps some people, but that they don’t personally need it. Some may be antagonistic, thinking all this discussion is foolish talk and a waste of time. Others may be curious and want to consider these big ideas and the implications for their own lives. And of course there are the skeptical who may take pleasure in watching a Christian struggle through one of the defining questions about God and Man.

Whichever category you belong to, thanks for giving me your time and attention and I hope you benefit from these thoughts in some way.

How often am I going to be posting and adding information?
If possible, I want to add a new substantial post weekly. If at least that bar is met, I will be quite happy. On top of that can come the daily gravy of interesting links, minor posts and pretty pictures with thoughtful commentary.

Here it is in all its fluent paragraphical glory:

This website will be dedicated to God and cover the topics of Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility, or “why should I work hard if only God matters?” The audience will be thoughtful Christians who struggle with God’s complete and utter control over all things and/or those who struggle with their complete responsibility for their own lives and actions. Non-Christians who are interested in these things are of course included. (God-willing) I will be adding posts every week about whether or not God alone matters, why we should work hard in light of that answer, what the point of our merits are if everything is a gift from God, why the church has suffered from mediocrity and how it might promote excellence and why this isn’t a bad thing, and other such topics. I am doing this because I want to be a better writer, I want to share my ideas with the world in the hopes of benefitting someone, I want the merit of the church to be unleashed, and this gives me an excuse to revisit my journals and digitize the ideas recorded in them.

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Chris Lim

I'm the founder of TheoTech (www.theotech.org), a company activating a movement of Technology Entrepreneurship for the Gospel. This means beginning with God as the Customer and working backwards to invent products that deliver outcomes He desires. I created Ceaseless (ceaselessprayer.com) and SPF.IO (spf.io) as two examples of this principle in action. I'd love to connect if you're passionate about using the best business and technology have to offer to advance God's Kingdom.
View all posts by Chris Lim